Creative Commons

Today (tomorrow) is already the third Sunday of Easter and today we read the famous story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. We’ve heard this story many times and we may think we know it, but there are some things in the story that you may not have noticed.

First is, apparently no one knows where Emmaus is. Luke tells us that it’s seven miles from Jerusalem but that’s all we know about it. Don’t try to find it on Google Maps because it’s not there. There is an Emmaus in Pennsylvania, near Allentown, but that’s hardly within walking distance of Jerusalem.

What we do know is that throughout the New Testament, everything points toward Jerusalem. But here we have two disciples walking the other way. We might say the wrong way. But as they’re walking along Jesus comes and walks with them. Luke says this is “that very day; the first day of the week.” In other words, it’s Easter Sunday. They’ve seen the Crucifiction. They’ve also heard from the women that Jesus has risen from the dead. But evidently they don’t believe it. It’s like “move along. There’s nothing to see here.” So they’re headed to Emmaus. Jesus calls them “fools”. “How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets said.”

So, why don’t they recognize Him? That’s easy. They’re headed the wrong way, both physically and spiritually. When the three of them got to Emmaus the two urged Jesus to stay and eat with them. As they tell us later, their hearts were burning within them while He spoke to them on the say and opened the Scriptures to them.

Still, it wasn’t until He broke the bread and gave it to them that their eyes were opened and the realized who He was. Then He vanished from their sight. As the last sentence says, “He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

This is a fairly long Gospel. The disciples knew the facts. They explained what had just happened in Jerusalem in great detail. But they didn’t “get it”. They didn’t understand what really happened. They called Jesus a “prophet”. “We were hoping that he would be the one who would redeem Israel.” But they didn’t stick around to see what happened. Instead of looking for Jesus, Jesus had to come looking for them.

This is a story about the mass. The mass has two parts: the Liturgy of the Word which is where we are now, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where we’ll be in just a few minutes and where we’ll all experience Jesus’ real presence. I could stand up here and talk all day and I might be able to make some things a little clearer. Maybe not. But the Eucharist brings it all home.

When Father turns that bread and wine sitting on the table in the center aisle into the Body and Blood of Christ, that’s when He enters into you. That’s when you, like the two disciples, will have your eyes opened. But you have to participate. You have to want it to happen. To put it bluntly, if you shuffle up here and Father or I say “the Body of Christ” and you mumble “amen” (or say nothing) and shove the consecrated host into your mouth and shuffle back to your seat, looking at your watch to see when this ordeal is going to be over, guess what? Your eyes won’t be opened. Nothing will happen to you. You might as well just stay in your seat. You have to do your part. You have to have the right attitude.

Father will have performed a miracle! He will have turned ordinary bread and wine, not even very good bread and wine, into the Body and Blood of Christ. If that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is. And it happens here and in Catholic churches all over the world every single day!

The disciples at Emmaus were so excited that they “set out at once and returned to Jerusalem” to tell the others. They had just walked seven miles and now they were going back, at night when it wasn’t all that safe to travel. They were on fire with Jesus’ words and His Presence, the two parts of the mass. When was the last time you were that excited about coming to mass?

If it’s been a while, maybe we should all spend some time thinking and praying about what’s happening here and the two travelers’ reaction. Will we walk out of here today knowing we’ve seen Jesus or will we just feel like we’ve fulfilled an obligation? It’s up to us.